Lori Greene

About Lori Greene

Lori is the Manager, Codes and Resources for Allegion, and the creator of iDigHardware. With more than 35 years of experience in the door and hardware industry, in her current role she focuses exclusively on the code requirements that apply to door openings.

What happened in Ohio?

As many of you know, a public hearing with the Ohio Board of Building Standards was held last Friday.  This hearing was part of an ongoing discussion about whether Ohio should allow barricade devices to be used to secure classroom doors.  There was a previous hearing where invited speakers presented their views; on Friday the podium was open to anyone who had something to share with the Board.  These hearings were prompted by the filing of bills in the Ohio House and Senate, summarized as:

By |2017-08-04T13:42:13-04:00June 8th, 2015|School Security|16 Comments
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Real Openings: Mean Means of Egress

Who would have thought the readers of Doors & Hardware magazine would embrace a monthly column on the code requirements for door openings, let alone TWO monthly (or almost-monthly) columns on the topic? My friend Mark Berger of Securitech Group has given me permission to share his June column here. I don't know how he finds these openings...

By |2015-06-02T14:23:28-04:00June 2nd, 2015|Means of Egress|1 Comment
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WWYD? Cooler Access Control

Securing cooler doors with access control products is likely to become a more common application as facilities become increasingly automated.  Without an access control system it's tough to control what is taken once the door is opened (like the coin-operated newspaper vending machines).  Have any of you seen a system that works well to secure cooler doors and interface with a system like the one pictured here, where supplies are ordered online and then picked up from the cooler?

By |2015-06-09T21:43:53-04:00June 1st, 2015|Electrified Hardware, WWYD?|5 Comments
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WW: Emergency Exit Only

Today's Wordless Wednesday photo came from RB Sontag of Allegion. This is a roof door (which really shouldn't be an emergency exit anyway) and I can't imagine how secure a chain wrapped around the lever would be, but if the exit is to be taken out of service they should talk to the fire marshal and change the signage...

By |2015-05-27T10:46:27-04:00May 27th, 2015|Doors Gone Wrong, Means of Egress, Wordless Wednesday|4 Comments
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Anatomy of a Fire Door

Openings in fire-resistance-rated partitions are protected by fire door assemblies – also called opening protectives, an assembly of products which have been tested and listed for this purpose. These products may come from various manufacturers and can be listed by different test laboratories, but they work together as an important part of a building’s passive fire protection system...

By |2021-06-29T16:34:34-04:00May 18th, 2015|FDAI, Fire Doors|12 Comments
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Decoded: Screen Doors and Doors in a Series

Screen doors are sometimes used in commercial or institutional occupancies, where air transfer through the opening is desired. One example of this would be a door leading from a commercial kitchen to the exterior. In some areas of the country where the climate is temperate, this is a common application which consists of two doors in the same opening, one inswinging and one outswinging. It can be very difficult for people with certain disabilities...

By |2021-06-16T13:29:35-04:00May 14th, 2015|Accessibility, Articles|5 Comments
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Minnesota Rationale

This document does not technically apply to facilities located outside of Minnesota, but this reasonable insight from authorities with decades of fire safety experience can not be ignored. To me, this rationale was particularly powerful given the fact that Minnesota is the location of the 2005 school shooting at Red Lake High School, where a 16-year-0ld killed 7 people and wounded 5 others. Although the classroom doors were locked...

By |2016-01-13T11:10:08-05:00May 12th, 2015|Means of Egress, School Security|2 Comments
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FF: Viral Door Problems

I love when door-related issues go viral, and "regular" people focus on doors for a change. Unfortunately, it usually takes a broken door to make people notice. Just in time for Fixed-it Friday, here's one from the Milwaukee Brewers blog, about when Bob Uecker and his crew got stuck in the radio booth during a game (click the photo to visit their blog)...

By |2015-05-08T12:17:40-04:00May 8th, 2015|Doors Gone Wrong, Fixed-it Friday|5 Comments
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ALOA Keynotes – A Call to Arms for All Locksmiths

I can understand politicians would have a hard time voting against anything that’s supposed to help protect children in an active shooter situation. On the other hand, I’m not happy with the rationale that suggests that because school fires are on the decline but active shooters are on the rise, this type of locking system can be used...

By |2015-04-26T17:23:15-04:00April 28th, 2015|School Security|4 Comments
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FF: Classroom Latch Preventer

These Fixed-it Friday photos depict one school's method for providing classroom security. The outside lever is kept locked at all times, so closing the door is all that's required to secure the classroom during an emergency. But having a classroom door locked all the time can be inconvenient - someone has to open the door each time a student or staff member wants to enter...

By |2015-04-24T08:28:54-04:00April 24th, 2015|Fire Doors, Fixed-it Friday, School Security|8 Comments
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When is a door not a door?

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about murals in health care occupancies and a change to the 2015 edition of NFPA 101 - The Life Safety Code. I just read an article in Australian Ageing Agenda about the practice of disguising doors in memory care units, and how this affects the patients...

By |2016-05-10T13:08:09-04:00April 21st, 2015|Health Care, Means of Egress|2 Comments
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FF: VA Hospital

I'm spending time at a VA hospital, where my father is currently in hospice care. Even under these circumstances I can't help looking at the hardware, and I know my father would tell me to go ahead and share it. I haven't taken many photos but there are a couple below. In case I don't get a chance to post tomorrow, consider this an early Fixed-it Friday post...

By |2015-04-16T01:18:35-04:00April 16th, 2015|Fixed-it Friday, Health Care|19 Comments
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Door Closer Arm Options

Most door closers used today are surface-mounted closers with a double-lever arm. These closers fall into two categories – application-specific, and universal. A universal closer is best when the field conditions are unknown, or when flexibility is a top priority. Application-specific closers give the specifier and supplier more control over how the door closer is mounted...

By |2016-10-16T22:18:39-04:00April 14th, 2015|Door Closers|7 Comments
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Options for Securing Classroom Doors

Here is my second draft script for an upcoming whiteboard animation video.  I really appreciate everyone who made suggestions for yesterday's script - I have made some changes.  Please comment if there is anything I need to add or change for this video about a very important topic.

By |2016-10-16T22:18:35-04:00April 8th, 2015|School Security|9 Comments
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Door Handing (video)

I have explained door handing hundreds of times during my career. I know some people still use the "butt-to-the-butts" method, but that doesn't work for all door openings because it doesn't take into account whether the door is inswinging or outswinging. I explained handing on this site a while back, but just to make it more fun...

By |2025-03-30T18:03:35-04:00April 6th, 2015|Back-2-Basics, Videos|7 Comments
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Fire Label Mismatch

I recently received a question from Al Rivas at Contract Hardware, which had me stumped. Al pointed out a mismatch in the opening protective requirements of the International Building Code (IBC). In the 2012 and 2015 editions, Table 716.5 establishes the required rating of the opening protectives for various types of walls...

By |2015-10-21T09:47:29-04:00April 2nd, 2015|Fire Doors|8 Comments
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WW: PSA? Really??

I'm at the BHMA Codes and Government Affairs meeting in sunny Fort Lauderdale, and the "public service announcement" below was just shown during our discussion about codes that pertain to the use of barricade devices in schools.  It illustrates the marketing methods used by some of the manufacturers of these locking devices.  I will remain Wordless, but you don't have to!

By |2015-04-01T12:02:57-04:00April 1st, 2015|School Security, Wordless Wednesday|19 Comments
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